Comments Off on Toxic chemicals found in small, furry animals decades after mine closure

The environmental impact of large-scale industrial activity can be felt long after the activity stops. A new study published in the journal ScienceDirect found that decades after the closure of the Giant Mine — located on the outskirts of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories province of Canada — small animals still carried significant amounts of toxic chemicals, such as arsenic, in their fur. While high levels of arsenic had been documented in the soil, plants and fish near the Giant Mine, scientists had not previously documented the impact on small mammals . Understanding the potential toxicity of these animals is important, as these creatures are still hunted for their furs and food, through which humans could also absorb the dangerous chemicals. The Giant Mine near Yellowknife contributed to the arsenic contamination of the surrounding area through its 55 years as an active gold mine. To extract gold from ore, it must be heated at extremely high temperatures. This process creates a toxic compound called arsenic trioxide, about 237,000 tons of which is buried underground near the mine site. Arsenic is naturally found within the Earth, often in gold-holding rocks. While arsenic usually seeps slowly into the environment through steady erosion of the rock, gold mining accelerates that process. Related: This moss can naturally eliminate arsenic from water Small mammals like the snowshoe hare often serve as early warning signs of an environment’s contamination . Because of the animal’s limited habitat range and diet of ground plants, the contaminant levels are often higher than other organisms. When snowshoe hares who lived near Giant Mine were tested for levels of arsenic, researchers found that their arsenic levels were 20 to 50 times higher than hares who lived elsewhere. Arsenic-contaminated wildlife often suffer from osteoporosis, neurological damage, reproductive issues and chronic metabolic disease. Scientists are most concerned that the arsenic contamination will find its way up the food chain, harming larger mammals, including humans. + ScienceDirect Via EcoWatch Images via Denali National Park and Preserve (1, 2)

Comments Off on Massive sinkhole opens up in the middle of a Brazilian farming town

Watch your step! An enormous sinkhole has opened up in the tiny municipality of Coromandel, in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. As Forbes reports, the 65-foot hole appeared overnight in the thick of a local soybean farm swallowing up earth, crops, and putting some 28,000 residents on alert. While some in the area had suspected a meteor was to blame for the cavernous hollow, geologists from the Federal University of Uberlândia have confirmed the sinkhole was in fact caused by the disintegration of the town’s underlying limestone bedrock. In addition to farming soy, coffee, and corn, the region is active in mining pure calcareous limestone, a sedimentary rock that spans much of the area. The town of Coromandel, in fact, sits atop a large stretch of limestone. While the sinkhole is the first to be recorded in the area’s modern history, geologist Trevor Nace is quick to point out that its occurrence is far from abnormal and should not be considered unexpected given the region’s limestone bedrock. Related: Japanese fix massive city sinkhole within 48 hours Nace says rain is slightly acidic. “As it percolates into the ground it can, over time, dissolve calcium carbonate into calcium, carbon dioxide, and water.” He adds, “As the limestone (calcium carbonate) dissolves it leaves voids underneath the ground and eventually the overlying weight of the sediment causes the area to collapse. This collapsed feature is a sinkhole.” Nace also cites “ Poço Verde/Green Well ,” a local tourist destination that professors surmise was once a sinkhole that over time evolved into a lake. Via Forbes Images via Coromandel’s press release and Google Earth

Comments Off on 3D-printed pod homes for the homeless could cling to NYC buildings

Creative agency Framlab has proposed a type of parasitic architecture for housing New York City’s growing homeless population. Called Homed , the temporary housing solution comprises partly 3D-printed hexagonal pods that use scaffolding to attach to the sides of unused, windowless building facades. The modular units could be easily customized for different uses and transported from site to site. In an estimate by the Coalition for the Homeless , over 61,000 people are sleeping in New York City’s homeless shelters every night, a growing number that Framlab pins in part to the loss of single-room occupancy (SRO) units. In the face of rising real estate costs, Framlab’s Homed proposal to bring back SROs banks on the city’s abundance of “vertical land,” the blank sidewalls of buildings that appear as developments come and go. Using scaffolding to anchor the homes on the sidewalls, Homed’s hexagon-shaped housing modules could form temporary micro-neighborhoods and a type of private and attractive housing that most shelters are unable to provide. Following Homed’s tagline “Creating a Shelter with Dignity,” the tiny pods aim to create “a warm and friendly environment” in a year-round home. Each aluminum-framed pod features interior modules 3D printed from recyclable bioplastics and clad with wood laminate. PMMA smart glass lets in ample natural light, while the layer of thin film diodes provide privacy and can be used to depict artwork or commercial content on the outside. The flexibility of the modules allows a wide array of uses that include sleeping, showering, and socializing. Related: Parasitic pod homes attach to buildings to provide additional housing Framlab notes that Homed isn’t a “single solution to the situation. Rather, it is intended to be an instrument that plays a part in the solution. The massive extent and complexity of the situation requires work on a broad regulatory and policy-making level. But, it is critical that the design community is part of the process.” + Homed Via Dezeen